A Bet, a Proposal and a Party
by EmilySeaShells
Summary: The members of the BPD have a little bet going, how long will Jane and Maura's new relationship last?
1. Chapter 1

When Maura and Jane finally became an item, the entire of BPD found itself divided. The relationship, they all thought, could only go one of two ways. Either they would break it off after a few months, leaving the whole precinct to suffer the awkward encounters, or they would be married and having babies within the year. Naturally, such a contrast in opinion led to the inception of an office pool, co-ordinated and run by Frankie.

It was a dull and drizzly Tuesday when Korsak triumphantly strode into the office, and waved his hand under Frost's nose in the universal gesture for 'pay up'.

'What do you want?' Frost asked, barely glancing up from his computer screen.

'Haven't you heard?' Korsak grinned, settling down at his desk 'Jane is going to propose to Maura'.

'So soon?' Frost asked, looking up from his monitor. 'they've barely been together a year'.

'Just under ten months at my count' Korsak supplied, helping himself to a donut. 'So I do believe you owe me ten bucks'.

'No way' Frost objected, 'I'm not paying you until I see a ring on her finger'.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jane was having some trouble with the ring. So far, she had bought, and returned, three different rings. She had spent more time inside jewellery stores in the last month and inside her own home, and she still hadn't found the right one.

'I can't propose without a ring' she told herself, stomping into the ninth jewellery store that month. A well groomed attendant was at her side in a second, and Jane tried to stop herself from grinding her teeth as he began his lecture. She'd heard it all in the last month now, all about the 'four C's' and the style and setting and blah blah BLAH. She probably knew as much about engagement rings by now as the attendant did, but she still hadn't found THE ring.

Maura wasn't the type to settle, after all.

'All right' she said, silencing the attendant who had still been jabbering on, 'can you show me your diamond engagement rings please?'. She forced her face into a pleasant smile as she was led over to a glass cabinet.

She studied the contents of the case with scrutiny, trying to picture each ring on Maura's finger. Jane knew everything about Maura, she knew that the cake would have to be hazelnut, almond and chocolate ganache, with mocha buttercream; she knew that her dress would be silk charmeuse with an empire waist and a twenty foot train. Jane knew all of this; knew, but didn't understand. One thing she didn't know though, was what Maura's dream ring would look like.

Her eyes snagged on a ring as they swept the case, and for what felt like the first time in days, felt her face break into a smile.

'That one' she said, pointing and grinning 'let me see that one'.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much to people who have already followed/reviewed/read my little story! This is my first ever go at writing fanfiction, having been an avid reader for many years. This story won't be particularly long, as it was based off a small idea I had one day when I was doing laundry (inspiration strikes at the strangest of times!), but I hope you enjoy it regardless. Thanks again! -Emily**

* * *

Half an hour later Jane snuck into work with the small box concealed in her pocket, feeling immensely pleased with herself. This time, she was sure, she wouldn't be returning it.

'You're late Rizzoli' Cavanaugh snapped from behind her.

Jane cringed, turning to face him. 'Sorry, traffic' she lied, 'I'm here now though, did I miss anything?'

He pressed the button on the elevator before responding, 'One suspicious death called in this morning, it hasn't been ruled a homicide yet though'.

'Is Maura doing the autopsy?' Jane enquired, forcing herself to be casual as the doors slid shut.

'You're not going to ask who it is, or how they died?' Cavanaugh asked, eying her suspiciously, 'Priorities Rizzoli, the whereabouts of your girlfriend should not be one of them while you're at work'. He gave her a stern look as he stepped out of the elevator and walked towards his office, 'Get Korsak and Frost to catch you up'.

Jane cringed again as she made her way to her desk, she felt like she was seven years old again, being told off for breaking that window.

'There's the bride to be!' Korsak exclaimed as Jane entered the room.

'Shh!' Jane hissed, looking around frantically to make sure no one heard him, 'how on earth do you know?' there was a pause as Korsak shifted guiltily in his chair. 'Frankie' Jane ground out, 'I'm going to kill him'.

'Oh don't, he's excited for you is all' Korsak reasoned, 'it's not every day his big sister gets engaged'.

'Well it's not today either' Jane muttered, sitting down, 'I haven't asked her yet'.

'Ha!' Frost suddenly interrupted, looking up at Korsak, 'Told you I wasn't paying you yet'.

'Are you BETTING on me?!' Jane exclaimed, looking murderous.

* * *

Maura was in her happy place. The Queen of the Dead they called her upstairs, and she couldn't really dispute the nickname, it was very apt. The morgue was empty except for the one body on the table in front of her, a man in his late thirties who had been brought in that morning. She hummed to herself as she stripped his clothing and entered it into the log.

'What have we got?' Jane asked, swinging the door open.

Maura glanced up and smiled, 'man in his late thirties, collapsed this morning in the lobby of his office. I'm just beginning secondary survey'. Jane nodded once, walking over to where his clothes were laid out.

'Do we have a cause of death?' she asked stiffly.

'Of course not' Maura frowned, looking up from the dead man's leg, which she had been examining. 'Are you okay? You seem off'.

'I'm fine' Jane muttered, 'Cavanaugh just got on my back about being late and I haven't had my coffee yet'.

'You were late?' Maura asked looking up again in surprise, 'Why? You left really early this morning. I hadn't even had breakfast yet'.

Jane mentally kicked herself. 'I just had some er, errands to run. Then I got stuck in traffic'

'But there was hardly any traffic this morning' Maura pointed out, 'I didn't come across any on my way here'.

'We must have gone a different way' Jane said, 'who is this guy anyway?' she added hastily.

Maura gave her a searching look before answering, 'Daniel Wilks' she said, returning to her examination. 'Give me an hour and I should be able to tell you how he died'.

Jane recognised the dismissal, and turned to leave the morgue, mentally kicking herself the whole way.


	3. Chapter 3

By 8pm that evening, it became clear that Jane wasn't going to be able to propose that day; or possibly even that week. After finding traces of cyanide in Daniel Wilks' system, Maura had ruled it a homicide, and none of them had sat down since.

'Okay, so you checked the wife's alibi?' Jane asked Frost as she sank down into her desk chair.

'I left a message with her office but no one was able to tell me whether she was there or not' Frost replied, frowning slightly at his computer.

'And the poison must have been in the last thing he ate or drank, right?' Jane continued, looking over at Maura, who nodded.

'A dose of cyanide is fatal at a ratio to 1.5mg to the kilogram. Wilks was 90kg and he ingested, at my estimation, 140mg of the poison, which was more than enough to kill him' she explained, 'as his stomach was empty, that amount of poison would have killed him in ten minutes at the most'.

Jane rubbed her eyes wearily. 'And we're sure he didn't poison himself?' she asked, allowing herself some false hope.

'Nothing to suggest that he did' Korsak said, 'no history of depression, happily married, good job, no money worries… Plus he collapsed at work, people don't generally go to work to commit suicide' he shrugged.

'I'm calling it a night' Jane finally conceded, 'hopefully we'll have some more to go on in the morning'.

Maura sighed in relief, she was so tired her eyes could barely stay open, and her stomach had been growling with hunger for the last three hours. She beat Jane home and slipped out of her heels with a happy sigh, padding to the kitchen in bare feet she rummaged in the cupboards for something to make for dinner. It took her less than five minutes before she decided it was a pointless endeavour and picked up the phone to order pizza instead.

'Honey I'm home' Jane's voice rang out as she wearily trudged through the front door. 'Please let me get take-out tonight' she said hanging up her jacket. 'And not from that organic-vegan-all natural Chinese this time' she turned to her girlfriend with pleading eyes. 'I don't think my taste buds have forgiven me for that yet'.

'An extra-large, stuffed crust, pepperoni pizza is on its way as we speak' Maura said with a grin.

Jane moaned and dropped her head onto her girlfriends shoulder, wrapping her arms around her waist. 'You, Maura Isles, are the single most amazing person on this planet'.

'Statistically that's unlikely' Maura joked, 'but I think I won't argue with you this time'.

The two collapsed on the sofa lamenting about the excessively long day and devouring the pizza when it arrived. Jane's thoughts however, kept straying back to that little black box which she'd hidden under the seat in her car.

* * *

Despite how exhausted she felt, it took Jane much longer to fall asleep than Maura, who was snoring softly within minutes of her head touching the pillow. Jane had agonised for so long over the perfect way to propose, but now she had the ring and was no closer to deciding how to do it. She had long since accepted that the entire wedding would be done to Maura's standards, fancy ceremony, dozens of guests, a big cake; the whole nine yards. Jane would even wear a dress if it made her happy.

So the proposal had to match the standard. She debated all of the clichés, ring in the champagne, picnic in the park, or dinner at a fancy restaurant… But none of them seemed _right_, not for her and Maura anyway. Jane thought that she should do it somewhere special, but really the only place that was 'special' to Maura was the morgue… That's where she was happiest anyway, and Jane would not be proposing surrounded by dead people, she thought with a slight shudder. Perhaps she would hide the ring somewhere for Maura to find, like in her desk at work or at the bottom of her coffee cup. Smiling slightly to herself; Jane snuggled closer to Maura and closed her eyes, she'd hide the ring somewhere tomorrow.

* * *

For the sixth day in a row, Maura woke up alone. She frowned slightly to herself as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Jane had been acting very strange lately, usually Maura had to practically drag her out of bed in the morning, but she had been up remarkably early every day for the last week. As she went about her morning routine, Maura's thoughts moved on to the case they were solving, the poisoned man. It was a lucky find, realising it had been cyanide that had killed him, it was infamously hard to trace. They had all agreed that it had been administered in liquid form, probably in the coffee he had drank, mere minutes before his death. However, there had been no coffee with him, and as he carpooled with his wife, there was none to be found in the car either.

She made her way to her own stash of coffee, her favourite part of the morning. To her surprise, Jane was already in the kitchen, swearing under her breath at Maura's latest coffee machine.

'Jane?' Maura asked suspiciously, 'what are you doing?'

Jane, who had evidently not heard her enter, span around suddenly looking immensely guilty. 'Just… Making some coffee' she said with a sense of forced airiness, 'didn't sleep well'.

'I can do it if you like?' Maura offered; she knew from experience that Jane's coffee was usually rather bitter, as she didn't really understand the machine.

'Yeah of course' Jane said, gathering up the things she'd scattered across the counter, 'it's all yours. I couldn't get the damn machine to work anyway'.

As Maura walked over to the cupboard to retrieve the right coffee beans, Jane surreptitiously slid the ring back into her pocket. She'd try again tomorrow.


End file.
